Abstract

Low-energy ball milling of amorphous has been performed at temperatures between 25 and 250 °C. Primary crystallization is observed after milling at elevated temperatures, but not after annealing at the same temperatures. Although milling at room temperature creates nucleation sites for primary crystallization, subsequent annealing at elevated temperature does not result in significant crystallization. Heating by ball impact and contamination by the milling tools during milling are ruled out as the causes for crystallization. The observed behavior is interpreted to be caused by diffusivity enhancement due to milling-produced defects.